Freedom
by Bellatrix wannabe 89
Summary: Regina didn't mean for all of this to happen. She didn't intend for this cop, this Officer Locksley, to take such an interest in her case, she didn't intend to have him kill her husband. But at the same time, she couldn't wait to be free of him… AU OQ Happy Ending week, Day 6 (Saturday)


I own no one but my own people

Regina paced back and forth, back and forth in the living room. The sink in the kitchen marked her time with a slow and steady dripping. Every ten seconds two quick drops of water hit the porcelain in quick succession.

 _Drip. Drip._

It's an old cabin. Rustic. Decorated with warm earthy tones, his favorite colors. He loved being out here in nature away from the quant suburban life in Storybrooke Maine. More importantly no one but the two of them knew it existed. He promised she would be safe there. Safe from curious prying eyes and rumors.

Safe from him.

She would need to be hidden away for this to work.

It had to work.

 _Drip. Drip_.

Leopold White was the congressional representative of their little corner in Maine and he had chosen Storybrooke as the quiet little town where he would work out of. He was wealthier than all the other families in his district combined.

There had always been rumors that he was 'overly friendly' with the women who came to work for him. A hand on the small of their back when he read the city budget on the screen of their computer, his eyes lowered just a hair further down than what he should have when their dresses had a dip or a v neck.

Regina's father warned her to stay away from him.

Regina's mother got her a job as his personal secretary.

 _Drip. Drip._

It wasn't so bad at first. A kiss on the forehead when she did a good job, a hand on her back when they walked down the hall together. She was always 'sweetie' or 'honey' or his personal favorite 'darling'.

Never 'Regina'.

Never her real name.

Her mother told her that it was a sign of affection, that he was just being polite. Regina was actually being the rude one for pulling away when he sat so close to her during meetings. So she forced herself to stay still. Forced herself to give him soft humble smiles to show that she wasn't disrespecting him.

 _Drip. Drip._

The two of them were working late. She had sat on the couch on his office as they went over a bill that wasn't particularly exciting- something to do with dairy farmers and lowering taxes on calves. She sat on the couch on his office, as she always did, and he sat beside her so close that their knees were touching.

His hand grazed her upper thigh. She froze for a second, just one second, before she continued with reading the finer points of the bill. But when Leopold moved his hand up, up, up under her skirt she froze again.

He asked if she was a virgin. Her vocal cords wouldn't cooperate so she she instead just nodded her head yes while the rest of her body trembled. She and her ex boyfriend Daniel, may the son of a simple horse farmer and her first and so far only boyfriend rest in peace, had used their mouths on each other, touched one another intimately but never took that final step.

She couldn't move, couldn't scream, couldn't do anything as his fat wrinkled fingers moved her panties out of the way.

Leopold promised he knew how to do it so it wouldn't hurt her the first time.

He lied.

 _Drip. Drip._

She hadn't said no. She had been too in shock to say anything as he pushed up her skirt and unbuttoned her blouse, she had tried too hard to block out the sound of his sweaty overweight wrinkled body slapping against her to think of saying no, tried to ignore the pain as he spread her legs and pushed into her over and over.

Daniel had made her feel good. Daniel had made it pleasant, even if they never had gotten to actual sex. Leopold had barely kissed her before he was inside her.

Regina told her mother what happened the next day. She was far too embarrassed to tell her father. She expected Cora to hold the twenty year old in her arms while she cried, promising to make everything alright, promising Regina that she didn't have to go back to work for that awful man.

 _Drip. Drip._

The day after Regina told Cora, she had taken her daughter to Victoria's Secret. To buy things that would 'impress' the politician. This was a huge opportunity for Regina, after all. She should be grateful a man as powerful as Leopold White was interested in a girl like Regina, especially with that hideous scar on her lip. If she knew what was good for her, she should be the enticer the next time.

 _Drip. Drip._

It happened twice more before he took her out to dinner. Just the two of them. A small candle lit dinner at Bella Notres, Storybrookes most romantic Italian restaurant. A photographer, Sidney Glass, just so happened to snap several photos of them on their outing. Regina suspected Cora had sent him to report on the Representatives new girlfriend. There was no turning back now. By the next day CNN, New York Times, MSNBC… all of them were reporting on Representative Whites newest girlfriend. All of them worried for the kind loving gentle widow that the media had nicknamed 'America's Favorite Father'. Clearly this young woman was just into him for the status and money.

Everyone urged Leopold to be careful. Who knew what this woman would do to hurt him…

 _Drip. Drip._

Leopold wasn't cruel. Not really. He bought Regina whatever her heart desired, and, much more importantly, whatever her mother's heart desired. He took her to Washington DC with him, took her to all the black tie dinners, she even got to meet the Vice President once. He would whisper in her ear that one day the two of them would live in the White House together. She pretended that the thought of staying with him for that long didn't fill her stomach with nausea and just smiled, telling him the same thing she always told him when he said something that she had no interest in doing.

"That sounds lovely, Dear."

 _Drip. Drip._

He proposed at the Storybrooke Country Club in full view of every other wealthy person in Storybrooke including her own parents four months after their first time together. She saw her father shake his head no, silently begging her to reject his offer. Regina swallowed hard. She was back on that couch the first night. Too in shock to move or speak or breathe. She wanted to say no. She wanted to tell him it was too soon. She wanted to tell him she needed time to think. She wanted to say anything to delay him slipping that gaudy overly large ring onto her finger. The word that would have freed her was on the tip of her tongue. She managed to get just enough lungs into her air to speak when her mother answered for her.

"Yes. Yes."

The club cheered, her mother beamed as if she had been the one he proposed to, Leopold gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek, they were in public after all, and, when she was finally in private, Regina wept.

 _Drip. Drip._

The wedding was a grand lavish affair. Lawyers and statesmen and CEOs and all of Maine's favorites sons had been invited. Regina had gotten to do minimal planning. They hired a planner to take care of 'all that nonsense.' She hadn't even gotten to choose her own dress, an unflattering ball gown that she never would have chosen for herself. The food, the music, the wine, the flowers… Regina didn't get to decide any of it. She had no choices, no say, she made no real decisions… She didn't even know what her bouquet was going to look like until she was handed it at the church.

She had dreamed of how her wedding would be when she was a young girl. A strong handsome man with blue eyes, she always had a thing for blue eyes, would be waiting for her, she would be dressed in a beautifully simple but elegant dress under the canopy of trees in the forest, the place she had always gone to think.

He would be taken back by her beauty. She would be overwhelmed by the love in his eyes. It would be the perfect fairytale.

As she stood facing the man two years older than her own father and promised to love, honor, and obey him, she realized she wasn't getting a fairytale.

She was getting a nightmare.

 _Drip. Drip._

A week after their five month anniversary was the first time Leopold hit her. He discovered she had been taken birth control. He had been trying for a child. Every night. If Regina wasn't in the mood he would bug and plead with her, not letting her get any sleep until she relented and allowed him access. He wanted a child to complete the picture perfect family. To make the holiday cards look more family oriented.

Voters responded better to fathers, you see.

He left her sobbing on the floor and holding a palm to her still stinging face, the pills he discovered in her nightstand scattered on the dark red carpet of their living room.

She drove to her parents house and told them what happened, a bruise already starting to mar her porcelain colored face.

Her father told her to call the cops.

Her mother told her not to anger her husband again.

Once Cora was out of earshot, her father, a surgeon at Storybrooke Hospital, offered to give her the birth control shots for free. Leopold would never find out.

Regina had never loved her father as much as she did right then.

 _Drip. Drip._

The hits came more and more often, with less and less explanations. He would always apologize afterwards. Give her expensive gifts, take her on exotic vacations, shower her with lavish jewelry... The midterm elections were coming soon and Leopold was under so much pressure. If Regina would just understand that, he wouldn't need to be so forceful with her.

She learned to hide the ugly black and blue marks with cover up and concealer and foundation. She learned how to frame her hair to cover the marks on her necks yet still make it classy. She learned that three quarter sleeve dresses worked wonders to hide the grab marks on her shoulders. Practical yet still elegant enough for her to wear to the parties she attended with her husband.

 _Drip. Drip._

Leopold has voted against a law that would have made the wealthy ship builders responsible for any and all damages to the equipment or the boat itself over $5,000 as well as all loss of human life and serious injury to sailors aboard the ship if it was discovered to be a problem stemming from the original build or design, a rather big deal in the ocean surrounded state of Maine. He had been given the equivalent of a blank check from the shipbuilding industry to vote 'nay' and 'nay' he voted.

His poll numbers dropped from 82% to 68% overnight. He still had a large lead over his competitor but he had never gone below 70% since his first election. Regina called up her father and admitted how nervous she was when he got home. When there was a negative story in the press about him or his poll numbers dropped, she always had to wear double the amount of concealer the next day.

It was Regina's fault when his poll numbers fell, you see.

She had dressed too alluring, she had dressed too conservative, hadn't smiled enough out in public, had smiled too much, had come off as far too traditional, had come off as way too radical a feminist.

Always her fault.

Never his.

 _Drip. Drip._

She was on the phone with her father when her husband arrived home. He hadn't realized she was on the phone when he grabs hold of her. He was so busy yelling at her he didn't hear Henry's shouting over the phone to Regina to let him know what was happening.

The sirens they heard coming up the road gave him pause. He yanked her up off the kitchen floor, demanded she throw her now disheveled hair into a ponytail-

No! Not a ponytail!

They would see the fading bruises on her neck!

Go get a brush!

A hairbrush, Regina! NOW!

She quickly combed her long brown locks out, he would never allow her to cut it short like she wanted for this reason alone, so they fawned her face in just that oh so perfect way but they arrived too quickly for her to work her magic with her makeup.

Leopold answered the door while Regina stayed hidden in the kitchen. Both officers had British accents she noticed. One far more posh than the other but they were both upper class.

"Darling," Leopold called out to her. "Darling, could you come here please."

She made her way out to the entryway, her legs trembling. She had managed to stop the bleeding from her lip but the bruises, she hadn't had a chance to cover them up. Her eyes stayed closed until she stood by her husband's side. She didn't want to show anyone her shame, her guilt, her embarrassment. She didn't want that look of pity. That unasked question on everyone's tongue.

Why doesn't she just leave him?

"M'lady?" The less posh sounding man spoke gently to her.

So gently.

"Are you alright?" asked the same officer again.

She finally gathered the courage to open her eyes.

That's when she first saw him.

 _Drip. Drip._

He had actually taken her breath away.

He was handsome. So handsome.

Blonde hair with a few pieces falling naturally into his face and the bluest eyes she had ever seen. He was taller than her, but he didn't overshadow her. He was strong, the cut of the police uniform proved that, but he wasn't bulky and bulging with muscles. Only a year or two older than her, if that. There was a light in his eyes and Regina had a feeling it never extinguished, even when he was heated. He had this look on this face like he was in on some great grand joke and he was just waiting for others to catch on so he could share the reason behind his boisterous smug expression with someone.

He was perfect.

 _Drip. Drip._

"I'm Officer Robin Locksley," he told Regina. There was such a softness in his voice she could scarcely believe he was actually speaking to her in that tone. No one spoke to her like that anymore. Not Leopold's campaign manager, not her mother, certainly not her husband...No one apart from her father.

And now this stranger.

His blue eyes moved over her face, taking in the ugly marks besmirching an otherwise beautiful face. He looked so kind. So sweet. So genuine.

Robin asked if she wanted to go someplace private and talk.

Leopold told the officer that there was no need.

They had gotten into an argument and she had tripped down the stairs while she stormed away from him. Leopold had, of course, tried to grab her when she fell, clearly explaining away the grab marks on her arm but she had fought him and, for his own safety, had to release her and that was when she fell down the stairs.

That was what his father in law, who, of course, was going a bit senile, had heard when he heard her crying out.

The cop beside Robin nodded, almost sympathetic to the poor husbands plight of dealing with an overly emotional wife. It was probably even her time of the month.

"Of course we understand."

Robin glared at the dark haired posh cop, clearly the higher ranking of the two.

"I'd still like to talk to the victim alone."

"A simple domestic dispute, Locksley. Nothing more."

The posh cop, they would later learn his name was Keith Nottingham, told Leopold they were so sorry for disturbing his evening and he gave some friendly advice to Regina not just not make Leopold quite so angry next time. Nottingham tipped his hat to the representative and made his way back to the cruiser.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

Robin stared at Regina for a long moment and she felt Leopold stiffen beside her. She knew this man wouldn't leave unless he knew she was safe. So she gave him a soft gentle smile, perfected over the many years. She thanked him for looking out for her, but it was just as her husband said. She had just gotten far too emotional like women do. He didn't believe her. She knew. She could tell by the way his eyes struck Leopold with daggers. But he gave her a polite inclination if the head, apologized for wasting their time, and headed back to the car.

After they left Leopold kissed her bruised temple. He promised never to get this angry with her again, to never strike her again.

She had stopped believing in that easily disproved lie long ago.

The next morning Regina went out to fetch him the morning paper and she saw a single business card paperclipped to the black and white reading material. On it was a very simple message.

' **Storybrooke PD,** **Officer Robin Locksley, 207-555-4663'**

 _Drip. Drip._

It took her awhile to call the number. She didn't after the first time he hit her, nor the second or third, not even the fourth. She hadn't called it until she was at Storybrookes favorite diner, Granny's. His poll numbers had taken a steep dive again. A hot-mic had picked up Leopold telling a reporter that he was 'riding the bitch like crazy' but he still couldn't get Regina pregnant.

He would blame her. She knew he would. For not getting pregnant, for not trying hard enough, for doing SOMETHING wrong. He would accuse her of taking the pills again, he would demand she go to the OBGYN, and this time he would insist on going with her so she would actually have to go rather than just lie and say he had given her a clean bill of health. He would find out about the birth control shots her father had been given her in secret.

He would take her off the shot.

She would never be allowed to see her father again.

She would fight him when he tried to have sex afterwards.

He would win.

He would rape her.

He would force her to carry his child.

 _Drip. Drip._

When Robin arrived he wore a look of genuine concern, genuine kindness, genuine… everything. Even the way he was looking at her made her heart do flutters it hadn't done since Daniel used to kiss her in his parents barn.

Robin asked if he hit her again.

Regina lied and said he never did.

He didn't push her. He told Regina that her secrets were her secrets and he would be there for her when she felt she could trust him enough to share them.

She told him she was scared. He got angry when he lost poll numbers. He got angrier when somehow she was involved in the scandals. She didn't want to go home that night. She didn't want to deal with the yelling and him throwing things. But he never hit her. Of course he didn't.

He had a spare bedroom. In the cabin he lived in at the edge of Storybrooke Forest. He offered it to this woman, this stranger, who he shared the sum total of one conversation with without so much as a moment's hesitation. She accepted it. She just needed a reason as to why she wouldn't be at home.

She was a politicians wife, he reminded her. They always had various events and memorials and meetings to go to that required overnight visits. A town about four hours north of Storybrooke was having a celebration for the women's auxiliary in World War Two and had invited her there. It was at eight in the morning so she would just stay the night in a hotel and come back the next day. It was the perfect plan. In fact Leopold was so consumed by rage at the poll drop that he hasn't even bothered asking for the finer details of the event.

That was the first night Regina White neé Mills spent with Robin Locksley.

 _Drip. Drip._

He cooked for her. A simple dinner of baked chicken and carrots with dirty rice but she hadn't had anyone cook for her at home since the day she moved in with him.

Voters liked their male politicians to be feminists but not too feminine, you see.

She forgotten how nice it was to just sit at a kitchen table and watch as someone else prepared the food. During dinner the conversation was light and pleasant. No politics, no poll numbers, just light hearted conversation and somehow the unusual quite random topic of who would win in a fight, Batman or a vampire came up.

It was stupid. It was silly. It was childish in all honesty. But it made her laugh and she hadn't laughed in a very long time.

When they finished their meal they sat on his couch and watched a movie, a light hearted road trip buddy comedy with a bottle of wine. Nothing too serious, nothing too dramatic. After the credits rolled they had stayed up until three in the morning simply talking. He asked her questions, then questions to follow up her answers, he listened to her, he was patient and kind and he genuinely wanted to know about her life before she had met her husband. His eyes never rolled in annoyance, he never yawned with boredom, he never picked up his phone in the middle of a sentence… he was fully engaged in what she had to say.

Regina fell asleep first. She hadn't meant to cuddle up next to him but that was how she awoke; curled up next to him and using his strong chest as a pillow. His heartbeat pumped steady and strong beneath her head, like it was playing Regina her own personal lullaby. Regina nuzzled her face closer to his chest, inhaling his unique scent.

Robin didn't douse himself in soaps or aftershaves or deodorants. smelled like rainwater and fresh air and pine. He smelled like the trees and all of the life that surrounded them.

He smelled like forest.

He had fallen asleep with his arms wrapped around her. Not constricting her, not like Leopold's, but comforting her. Letting her know she was safe.

She never wanted him to let her go.

 _Drip. Drip._

Regina spent half her nights at the small cabin out in the woods. He always offered the guest bedroom but nine times out of ten the two of them would fall asleep tangled in one another's arms on the couch. He never asked why she didn't just leave and she was grateful. They knew that seemingly simple question never had a simple answer.

The weeks passed and Leopold's poll number kept getting lower and lower and his beatings would go on longer and longer. It had gotten to the point where her expensive makeup wasn't able to hide the marks he gave her. It had gotten to the point where she wasn't even able to hide them from her cop anymore.

Robin begged her to let him arrest him.

Regina begged him not too.

Not out of any affection but out of fear. He knew far too many people higher up. He would be released and then he would come after her for humiliating him, for sullying his good name with an abuse charge.

She begs him to just keep doing what he has been doing. Make her laugh, make her smile, make her feel like a human being, make her feel like she's worthy of feeling something other than painful bruises Leopold inflicts on her. Make her feel like she's worthy of whatever it was that was growing between them.

And he does. Without question.

 _Drip. Drip._

At 5:38 PM CNN was the first to voice the opinion that Leopold's young talented rival David Nolan would win the upcoming midterm election.

At 5:39 PM Regina was fending off blows. It was bad this time. More than bad. She could hardly stand up afterwards. This was all her fault. If would have just given him the family man image he wanted this wouldn't be happening. If she would be a better wife, a better woman he would have this election in the bag. It wasn't his shady deals with the lobbyists or him turning his back on the social issues that his party cared about or him not bothering to meet with his constituents. It was all Regina's fault. Everything was always her fault.

When he left Regina laid there on the ground for several long minutes. Everything hurt. Everything throbbed. Everything bled. How she managed to drive herself to the cabin was beyond her. She just prayed his car would be in the driveway.

She didn't wanna be alone tonight.

 _Drip. Drip._

For once in her twenty three years her prayers were answered.

Robin ran out and he catches her before she hits the ground. The drive and the short walk to and from the car proving far too much for her. He picked her up and carried her inside, laying her not on the guest bed she had spent so many nights, but on his bed which was closer to the bathroom.

"You're alright, Regina," he breathed softly as he pushes a piece of long brown hair from her face, careful not to touch the new tender cut he had marked her face with. "You're safe now."

She wanted to cry but she couldn't stand the pain of the salty drops of wetness running down her face and burning where they touched the open cuts and bruises. She reached out and grabbed hold of his hoodie, gripping it as hard as her weak body would allow her too.

"Stay."

She hated sounding so weak in front of him. Hated sounding like she was begging. But at the same time she didn't feel ashamed. He wouldn't judge her, wouldn't chastise her, wouldn't tell her to quit being so emotional.

Voters liked politicians wives to be soft and delicate but not weak, you see.

"I'm with you. Always," he promised her.

Regina moved over in the comfortable bed with the first green bedding, just enough room for him to climb in next to her. She clings to him, rests her forehead against his. He wraps his arms around her as gently as he can manage, making sure to avoid the bruises and cuts both new and healing. She presses herself up against him as tight as she can.

She shouldn't want this. Shouldn't want to be with another man. Not after one man had inflicted so pain and cruelty onto her. But she did. Oh how she did.

 _Drip. Drip._

Robin tells her no at first. He doesn't want to hurt her. She needs time to heal.

Regina begs him too. She needed to feel human, she needed comfort, she needed to be reminded she was a woman with feelings of her own. She wanted to be with a good man, a kind man, a gentle man, a man who would rather cut off his own hand than use it to strike her.

For once in her life she wanted to be with a man she loved who loved her back.

He's gentle. Soft. Slow. He kisses her skin where the bruises didn't touch her and he's so, so gentle. He spends so much time getting her wet. He runs his hands over her breasts, he runs his tongue between her legs, he spends ample time getting to know her body before he even thinks about pushing into her.

He takes his time with her. He draws out soft moans and barely audible gasps from those lips that he can't stop kissing. Leopold always avoided kissing her when he could help it. That scar, he said, was disgusting to look at much less kiss.

When Robin whispers her name against her skin it send shockwaves of pleasure throughout her and she begs to hear it again. She had no idea sex could feel this good. She had no idea how intimate this act could really be. His blue eyes stared into hers the whole time. They were joined together in the closest way two humans could be joined together.

 _Drip. Drip._

There was no earth shattering explosions when they orgasmed. Her back didn't arch off the bed, she didn't scream his name to the heavens, he didn't let out a slew of cuss words. It was soft, intimate, genuine and beautiful.

Just like him.

 _Drip. Drip._

She told him how terrified she was. The election was this Tuesday. He would lose. David Nolan would win. Leopold would blame Regina.

He would kill her.

Robin begged her, pleaded with her, to let him arrest him. He would make sure the charges stuck. Regina told him how Leopold played golf with ADA Albert Spencer, had Friday night bridge games with Judge Hades, had become good friends with police commissioner Greg Mendell and even better friends with police sergeant Keith Nottingham, Robins own partner. If she ran, he would follow her. If she tried to hide, he would find her. There was nothing for her to do but spend her last few nights with the man she had grown to love.

Robin refused to accept that. Would not accept that. He would not lose her, not to him, not to anyone. He would not stand by any longer while this monster hurt the woman he loved.

Suddenly it came to him. He knew what he had to do.

Regina was right. Leopold would never let her be happy. Even if he won the election, he would kill her eventually. He had to do this. He had to protect her. He had to give Regina her second chance at life.

 _Drip. Drip._

He told her the idea. She was terrified. Not that the thought that came into his head, she had that same idea more times than she could count, she had spent hours fantasizing about it, but that he would go to prison if he was caught. She couldn't lose him. She would rather die by Leopold's hand than have Robin suffer even for a moment for something he did. He promised her he wouldn't get caught. Not only was he a cop but he had been on the wrong side of the law before the academy. He knew how to do this and more importantly how to get away with it. He begged her to trust him. He begged her to let him save her.

The news was playing in the background. Another major dip in the polls.

Leopold was at 28%.

David Nolan was at 72%.

They predicted that there was no way for Leopold to win this upcoming election.

Regina told Robin two words.

"Do it."

 _Drip. Drip._

He didn't tell her the details. Didn't tell her any information. Didn't tell her anything about his plan. It wasn't as if he didn't trust her. Far from it. But he didn't want to put those images into her head. He told her she had to stay with him at their house until election night. He hated it. It crushed his heart when he did. But it was the only way for her to not be indicted. He swore he wouldn't be far away. He swore he would save her if it got to the point where she couldn't handle the bearings anymore.

She told him she knew. She knew he would protect her.

The barely seen blue eyes hidden under a black hoodie belonging to the man perched in the apple tree outside their bedroom door night after night with a gun in his holster proved he would.

 _Drip. Drip._

Regina was all smiles when she cast her vote, surrounded by camera crews and reporters. She had truly mastered the art of faking her happiness over the years.

The vote was supposed to be in private but Leopold looked over her shoulder the whole time and she was forced to vote for him rather than the young kind socialist and his fair equally kind wife that she wanted to vote for. She went to the party, playing the role of the humble wife. All of them pretending that they didn't know what the results would be.

Leopold was already moody. Already angry. Already upset at everything Regina did. It was her fault this wasn't a complete shoe in. It was her fault he was going to lose this election.

Everything was always her fault.

The results were 40% in. That's when Robin told her to leave. 40% meant there was still a chance. 40% meant that it was still early enough not to call the election and people would leave the two of them alone. She had been dumping various bottles of alcohol down the sink the whole night. To give her an excuse to leave the party. When she told Leopold what she was running out to get more booze, Storybrooke was a dry town as were the next two counties over so it would take her a while to get back, he just grabbed hold of her wrist and told her she better be back here soon. She promised she would, gave him a chaste peck on the cheek, they were in public after all, and left the home she would never return too.

 _Drip. Drip._

She passed him heading out on her way into the cottage driveway. They didn't say a word. Just looked at one another in their rear view mirrors. She had his cell number. A single phone call or text from her and this would end. Robin would turn back around and they would figure out another plan to save her.

She didn't pick up her phone once the whole time she was there.

 _Drip. Drip._

Regina paced back and forth, back and forth in the living room. The sink in the kitchen marked her time with a slow and steady dripping. Every ten seconds two quick drops of water hit the porcelain in quick succession.

 _Drip. Drip._

Every second she was alone in their cabin felt like a lifetime. What if something went wrong? What if Leopold hurt him? What if Robin got caught? What if she never saw him again? She would never forgive herself.

God, Robin, please hurry up…

 _Drip. Drip._

Three hours, 23 minutes and 39 seconds. That's how long it took for his car to pull back into the driveway from the second he left. Regina raced out to meet him, only the pale moonlight to guide her. Brown eyes wide and frightened until she saw that stoic gentle calmness in his blue ones.

A single nod from Robin to Regina.

That's all that was said about it. That's all that would ever be said about it.

It was done.

Regina raced over to him, wrapping her arms around him and sobbing tears of joy into the soft fabric of his forest green hoodie.

He had saved her.

She was finally free.

 _Drip. Drip._

David Nolan would go onto win the 4th Maine district by an unprecedented 93% of the vote. He thanked his voters, his supporters, his donators and above all his own personal heroes; Mary Margaret and their daughter Emma.

He also offered his prayers and sympathies to the family of Leopold White, especially to Regina.

The strain of losing the election had clearly been too much for the career politician to handle and he killed himself the night of the election.

Leopold had been found with a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Some conspiracy nuts claimed it was murder. That the deep state had murdered Leopold because he knew too much about Benghazi and emails and pizzagate. Some of the whackier fringe sites even claimed his wife had set him up to be killed so she could run off to be with another man.

But everyone with half a brain knew that was ridiculous and everyone asked that those conspiracy nuts to stop spreading those horrible untrue rumors and to just offer their thoughts and prayers to the poor, grieving widow…

 _Drip. Drip._


End file.
